Houston-based energy storage independent power producer Broad Reach Power announced June 9 that it will build 15 utility-scale battery storage plant sites in areas near Houston and Odessa by the end of 2020. Six sites are expected to be online and operating this summer, and it is anticipated that the others will be under construction this fall. Each site will contain battery systems capable of storing and distributing up to 10 megawatts of power.
Broad Reach owns a three gigawatt portfolio of utility scale solar and energy storage power projects in Montana, Wyoming, California, Utah and Texas. Broad Reach’s battery systems will buy and store renewable-sourced power when it’s inexpensive or surplus to demand, and sell it during peak pricing periods. The systems will connect directly to the grid, rather than to wind or solar farms.
The Houston Chronicle quoted the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) as saying that renewables are growing so quickly that solar power is expected to generate 61 percent of new power capacity coming online in Texas between now and 2023. Wind represents another 27 percent of new capacity. About 7 percent will come from battery storage. Natural gas, the backbone of the state’s electricity system and the source that has traditionally supplied about half the power capacity in Texas is expected to add only 5 percent of new capacity in the next three years.